irrelevant
by Yui Miyamoto
Summary: A ficlet about a certain admirer who has been trailing after Tezuka since they were children.


**Fandom: Prince of Tennis / Tennis no Oujisama  
Title: irrelevant.  
Pairing: ? + Tezuka  
Description: A ficlet about a certain admirer who has been trailing after Tezuka since they were children****.**

**Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis / Tennis no Oujisama isn****'****t mine.**

**irrelevant.  
By miyamoto yu  
**  
With nonchalant eyes, he watched him as he played tennis in the park.

When other children were focusing on how to run around the playground or with how high they could swing, there was a child who wore thin frames and played with a huge tennis racket in between his hands.

His opponent had thick glasses and also carried a racket. He watched the other player meticulously.

They both watched one another. But being as short as they were, they sometimes fell and scraped their knees, elbows, and fingers against the jade floor which was outlined perfectly in white paint.

Day after day, after school, they would challenge one another.

They grinned at one another and admired the other's talent in individual things even though they couldn't express them in words. Instead, they just hi-fived one another and compared their scratch marks to show off who gave more effort.

There was another little boy who was always there, but he wasn't part of their group. He had been impressed and infatuated with the thin-framed genius who kept his profile very low in the tennis circles. However, talent like that couldn't go unnoticed and so he curiously went to watch one private game with one of the adults, a friend of his father.

He watched everything. He observed the way he dressed, the way he kept a polite silence after his humble victory, the way he elegantly played this "simple" sport.

It was the sport he used to ridicule because it seemed to not challenge him. He had lost interest. Then, seeing that little boy, he was reinspired to take up his racket once again.

"I will meet you one day on the court," he thought confidently to himself.

And after endless days of watching him, he finally didn't visit the park anymore. He didn't go out of his way to visit any of the matches. He fully devoted himself into playing the sport that his admired rival played.

As he grew up, he heard more and more about the boy. He finally found out his name and smiled to himself at all the sports articles he kept, even if it was just mentioning that very name. He found and kept everything within a secret file stored in his room.

As he developed as a player, he became very proud.

He had every right to brag though. He grew to be that good.

"I will make you remember me," he said to himself. "In any way possible. Whether you like me or you hate me…"

So, no one could have possibly imagined the shakiness he truly felt inside as he lifted his arms while cueing the crowd with their cheers. No one could have possibly known how much he waited for this moment even though he taunted cruelly at Seigaku and especially at their captain.

When the time came that he had to reveal himself, his eyes steadily watched the other handsome figure on the opposite side of the court. That person held those scrupulous eyes which analyzed every detail with their mute, disordered enthusiasm at the very thing he loved most in the world.

The years hadn't erased or changed the undying passion that the light-haired boy fell in love with from the first time he put his eyes on him.

"Welcome to my realm, Tezuka Kunimitsu-san," Atobe greeted inside of his mind as he silenced the crowd with his hand gestures.

With his smile raining down with superiority, his heart quivered from the anticipation of years catching up with him. At last, after all the blood, sweat, and tears flashing before him in order to get to this very point.

The boy he stared at all this time,  
was finally gazing back at him.

Behind the self-assured smile that grew wider the more he cringed inside of himself, he thought, "From what you have heard or have seen, I don't know how you look at me. I don't know what you think of me.

Honestly, I don't give a damn because you're actually here.

But, not in a million years will you ever fully understand how much I have waited for you.

I don't want to be just anyone in your eyes. I want you to remember is me in some shape or form. Whether you are disgusted or awed by me is irrelevant.

Just as long as you do, Tezuka."  
**  
Owari. / The End.**

**Author****'****s note: **I just wanted to write a sweet ficlet. I didn't want to do my usual Tezuka + Fuji 'cause I'll reserve that for something else. ^_~ I thought it would fun to do Atobe (since I only like him in filler eps when he's in chibi form).

Love,  
Yui

**Friday, January 14, 2005  
3:55 AM**


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